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June 2016

Ecosystem News 2nd edition - The CEM Newsletter

Announcements

The Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria celebrated its second anniversary On May 20th we celebrated the second anniversary of the formal approval by IUCN of the Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria for the identification of threatened ecosystems. The celebrations include the launching of a new website and the Third IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Photo Contest- Ecosystems at the Crossroads. Two years after being adopted by IUCN, the Red List of Ecosystems is more relevant than ever. Since its launch, more than 30 ecosystems have been evaluated at different scopes, getting us closer to the goal of assessing of all of the world's ecosystems by 2025. A sample of these assessments, as well as background and outreach materials are available on the new website.

Photo: Annelie Fincke, laurel forest

Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC)

IUCN’s Ecosystem Management programme has been working on investigating the role healthy ecosystems play in reducing disaster risk and in supporting community-based adaptation to climate change. EPIC is a five year initiative that is promoting the implementation of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction in Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Nepal, Senegal and Thailand. The project team invites you to learn more on the best practices:

• Blog: Importance of South-South knowledge exchanges

Photo: Fabiola Monty

between Burkina Faso and Senegal • Video: Forest protecting against snow avalanches in Chile

(Spanish) • Video: Restoring mangrove to reduce risk in Thailand • Multimedia article: Nature-based solutions to land

degradation • Deutsche Welle video: Bringing life to abandoned shrimp

ponds in Thailand Enjoy!

Draft IUCN Programme 2017-2020 IUCN’s Draft Programme is available online for your reference, take a look at the English, French or Spanish version! Other congress documents can also be found on the Congress Portal.

CEM after Congress Many CEM members have asked what happens to CEM after the next Congress in September. Here is a short overview:

• As many of you will be aware our Chair, Piet Wit, steps down after 2 terms. • The election for the new Chair will be held at the end of the Assembly. Only one

candidate has been nominated and was subsequently proposed by IUCN Council to succeed Piet: Angela Andrade, presently our Deputy Chair of CEM.

• For more information about the process please refer to the IUCN Statutes and Regulations, page 67 Part VII - The Commissions.

• In addition, a draft mandate for CEM 2017-2020 was open for comments, was then proposed to Congress by IUCN Council and is now published on the website, together with other documents awaiting approval at Congress.

• The 2012-2016 report to Congress will be available online on 11th July, together with other Congress documents.

You may have noticed that CEM has temporarily stopped accepting new members. This is because membership will automatically be ended for all current commission members in September. This will be followed by a membership renewal process for the next intersessional period. As a CEM member, you will be informed about the steps to take for renewing your membership.

From the Ecosystem Services Thematic Group - Update on Christine’s Internship Christine Janzen from Brock University’s Sustainability Science and Society program successfully completed a CEM funded, 5-month internship for the IUCN Nature-based Solutions Programme and currently has a part-time contract with CEM. She works under the supervision of Emmanuelle Cohen-Shacham, CEM’s Ecosystem Service Thematic Group Lead, and in collaboration with experts at IUCN’s global programs, regions, commissions, and members. Christine collected and combined information for 19 case-studies that can illustrate how different types of Nature-based Solutions interventions address societal challenges, in different ecosystem types, and in various geographic and political contexts. These case-studies will be used in an IUCN/CEM NbS report, planned to be released at the upcoming IUCN World Conservation Congress. For more info please contact Emmanuelle.

Photo: Pierre Campredon

IUCN UK Peatland Programme Annual Conference 2016 The IUCN UK Peatland Programme is to focus on ‘Creating a Legacy for Peatlands’ during its 2016 conference, from 29th November until 1st December. This highly anticipated conference will focus on how the UK can improve the state of our damaged peatlands. Funding opportunities will be a key area of exploration, whilst the benefits provided by healthy peatlands and how these fit into the increasingly popular agenda of natural capital will also be discussed. Peatland projects in the UK and abroad will be encouraged to share their own developments in restoration and management techniques, to enable advanced learning in this fundamental area. The conference will be held in Shrewsbury, with opportunities to visit nearby lowland raised bog, fen and blanket bog. Programme details will be available soon and tickets are on sale now. Visit our website http://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/ or email joanna.richards@iucn.org.uk for further information.

The Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) conferences in 2016

The Ecosystem Services Partnership (www.es-partnership.org) will organise several conferences in 2016 focussing on the use of the ecosystem services concept in policy and practice to find ‘nature based solutions’ for conservation and sustainable development issues in Europe (in Antwerp, Belgium, 19-23 Sept.), Latin America (in Colombia, 18-22 October), Africa (in Kenya, 21-25 November) and N. America, together with ACES (in Florida, USA, 5-9). See http://es-partnership.org/esp-conferences/upcoming-conferences/ for further information.

CEM at the World Conservation Congress

CEM reception at the World Conservation Congress By Charlotte Moser Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) members attending the IUCN Congress in Hawai’i in September have received an invitation to the CEM reception on Saturday, September 3, from 7:30-9 p.m. at the Hawai’i Convention Center in Honolulu. The reception honors outgoing CEM Chair Piet Wit and thanks Patricia Hawes, CEM Membership Coordinator, who is retiring from IUCN. Co-sponsor for the event is the Society for Ecological Restoration. Look for an email invitation. We will look for your RSVP and look forward to seeing you in at Congress! CEM booth When at Congress, stop by the Commission’s Booth #516 in the Exhibition Hall of the Hawai’i Convention Center. CEM is screening recent videos from Chile and Thailand at the booth and will have the latest CEM related documents available for you. CEM Journeys In addition to having four CEM-led workshops during the congress, the Commission is also organising journeys. A journey is a road map of congress events related to a CEM theme. The three selected themes are:

• The Red List of Ecosystems (RLE). This journey offers the opportunity to learn what IUCN and its Members are doing on the Red List of Ecosystems. It is also an opportunity to learn the scientific foundation and technical details on its categories and criteria, as well as discuss the applications of the tool across regions and the links between Red List of Ecosystems and other knowledge products such as Red List of Species. Discussions on the RLE applications in conservation planning and development strategies will be held.

• Nature Based Solutions (NbS) are interventions that protect, manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, to address societal challenges (e.g. climate change, food and water security, disaster risks). The Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Journey will take participants through a series of events assessing the work done on the different NbS type interventions (e.g. restoration, ecosystem based adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction), and advancing NbS to address global societal challenges.

• Ecosystem Governance (EG) is the capacity of the social-ecological system to maintain its services and functions and conserve its biodiversity through responsible developmental and managerial actions for socio-economic benefits without compromising the nature base on which communities depend. EG integrates the concepts of adaptive governance, ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and resilience. This journey follows the first World Forum on Ecosystem Governance, held in China in 2015.

#DidYouKnow CEM now has its own Twitter account? The commission is now on twitter. Follow us @IUCN_CEM for more news towards congress.

From our members

Lecture on fisheries in the Mediterranean ecosystem Dr Vassiliki (Celia) Vassilopoulou gave an invited lecture on the status of the multi-species fishery resources in east Mediterranean at the Goulandris Museum of Natural History in Athens Greece on the 23rd of March 2016. The lecture, that was open to the wider public, presented the direct and indirect impacts of fisheries on the Mediterranean ecosystem. It also discussed issues pertaining to pressures from other human activities, as well as climate change favoring the establishment of thermophile alien species mainly in coastal areas of the south-eastern part over the last couple of decades. Responsible fishing, effective co-management processes, along with the establishment of spatio-temporal closures to protect essential fish habitats, such as nursery and spawning grounds, were highlighted as crucial for the improvement of the poor status of the stocks in the area. The lecture is available in Greek only, and can be

Photo: HCMR

found here. For more info please contact Celia.

Governance and forest landscape restoration – Congress event and paper by Stephanie Mansourian An event will be held at the World Conservation Congress on 3 September at 5PM at the Forest Pavilion on governance and forest landscape restoration (FLR). The relationship between governance and FLR has been explored in a recent paper (Mansourian in press – available upon request) and will be further discussed at this Congress event, focusing notably, on some case studies. The governance conditions that can favour or hinder such large scale forest restoration will be reviewed at this event. Proposed approaches to help better identify and understand key challenges in terms of governance will also be shared and discussed, as will lessons learnt. The role of governance factors in determining the success or failure of large scale restoration will also be considered. The intention is to support practitioners working on such large scale restoration projects and programmes to incorporate governance issues in their work.

Photo: Appolinaire Razafimahatratra

The East Calcutta (Kolkata) Wetlands are in danger by Prof. Jyotirmoy Shankar Deb Being a Ramsar Site (2002), the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) Area in the state of West Bengal is a unique example of waste water management as well as sewage-fed aquaculture. It is comprised of 32 Mouzas (administrative districts), measures 12,500 ha including 254 fishery farms or Bheris and is an official Freshwater Protected Area. The wetland ecosystem has a remarkable biodiversity composition. The traditional aqua-cultural practices made this area a unique example of community based ecosystem services. But, the main threat of the EKW area is, the acquisition of wetlands for infrastructure development. The State Government itself has already acquired hectares of area for the same. Besides, the newly formed state government is planning to do something more. If it is not been stopped now, we may lose a nice wetlands area from the list.

Photo: Proj J Shankaar Deb

How business schools can contribute to ecosystem restoration CEM’s special advisor on business and ecosystems, Willem Ferwerda, was recently interviewed by the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University on how business schools can contribute to ecosystem restoration. Watch the video of the interview and accompanying text here.

Photo: RSM

UNEA2 approved resolution on combating desertification, land degradation and drought now online More than 2,000 delegates from around the world representing governments, civil society, and international organisations gathered from 23 – 27 May 2016 to attend the second UN Environment Assembly, held at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. IUCN’s Global Drylands Initiative was a partner in developing UNEA2 resolution L.24: Combating desertification, land degradation and drought and promoting sustainable pastoralism and rangelands. It was finalised, translated in all 6 UN languages, formally shared with the countries by the UNEA Secretariat, and it is now posted on the UNEP website. Please

contact Claire Ogali for more information.

Training Programme on “Managing Project Preparation for Climate Change Adaptation” Patrick Jasper, Asst. General Manager, NABARD, India, attended the Training programme on “Managing Project Preparation for Climate Change Adaptation” organized by Climate Change Asia (CCA), the Asian Institute of Technology’s Regional Research Centre for Asia-Pacific and USAID (through their Adapt Asia-Pacific Project) from 06 to 10 June, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand. This was a "Train-the-Trainer" programme, developed by USAID Adapt Asia-Pacific in collaboration with the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii. Participants from seven countries attended the programme. The course aimed to improve the capacity on preparing fundable project proposals for climate change adaptation. It helped train participants to link their proposed project ideas to their countries’ existing national climate change strategies, identify potential sources of international finance, and, ultimately, develop a keen understanding of the steps in the project cycle and how to apply them to prepare viable projects. Further information at http://www.rrcap.ait.asia/ or patjas@gmail.com.

Photo: AIT's RRCAP

Ecosystem services in Malawi’s Likangala River Catchment The provisioning ecosystem services of Likangala River catchment located in Southern Malawi provides food, construction materials, fuel-wood, timber, ornamental products and water for its inhabitants. A study was carried out using remote sensing techniques, to evaluate long term land cover changes and how the changes may affect provisioning ecosystem services. The analysis indicates that deforestation, riverbank cultivation, pollution and over-extraction of natural resources were threatening sustainability of provisioning ecosystem services in Likangala River catchment. Land use/land cover change detection between 1984 and 2013 revealed a 88.5% decline in woodlands, 16.7% decline in shrublands, and an increase in agricultural and urban areas of 44.3% and 143%, respectively. A main driver of change in this catchment is the demand for agricultural land as population grows. The impacts include declining provisioning ecosystem services, water borne diseases and biodiversity loss through loss of habitats from land use and land cover change. The study highlights the integration of remote sensing techniques for land cover change detection and the use of focus group discussions to capture the understanding and responses of the community to ecosystem degradation in order to achieve the outcome of an ecologically sustainable society. The study can be found here.

Photo: Deepa Pullanikkatil

Concern raised over World Heritage Site in Japan By Masami Kawamura The northern part of Okinawa Island in Okinawa, Japan has been selected as a candidate site for World Natural Heritage. However, at Henoko, just some 20km south of the candidate site, the Japanese and U.S. governments are trying to construct a new U.S. military base. Famous for the endangered Dugong, Henoko and its vicinity are considered as one of the most biodiversity rich environments in

Japan. The base construction however requires reclamation of 160ha of coastal water. 21 million cubic meters of soil and rocks will be dumped into the waters and 17 million cubic meters of it will be transported from quarry sites in mainland Japan, which have different ecosystems from that of Okinawa Island. Concern has been raised over possible introduction of invasive species to Okinawa. As the next IUCN WCC in Hawaii tackles invasive species issues, the Okinawan situation will certainly benefit from serious attention at Congress.

Photo: NACS-J

Publications

• Daw, T. M., C. Hicks, K. Brown, T. Chaigneau, F. Januchowski-Hartley, W. Cheung, S. Rosendo, B. Crona, S. Coulthard, C. Sandbrook, C. Perry, S. Bandeira, N. A. Muthiga, B. Schulte-Herbrüggen, J. Bosire, and T. R. McClanahan. 2016. Elasticity in ecosystem services: exploring the variable relationship between ecosystems and human well-being. Ecology and Society 21(2):11.

• Kremer, P., Z. Hamstead, D. Haase, T. McPhearson, N. Frantzeskaki, E. Andersson, N. Kabisch, N. Larondelle, E. Lorance Rall, A. Voigt, F. Baró, C. Bertram, E. Gómez-Baggethun, R. Hansen, A. Kaczorowska, J.-H. Kain, J. Kronenberg, J. Langemeyer, S. Pauleit, K. Rehdanz, M. Schewenius, C. van Ham, D. Wurster, and T. Elmqvist. 2016. Key insights for the future of urban ecosystem services research. Ecology and Society 21(2):29.

• Moraes, M. A. (Org.) 2016. Forest Landscape Restoration in Brazil. Brasília: UICN. (Also in Spanish)

• Murray, N.J., Miller, R.M., Zager, I., Keith, D.A., Bland, L.M., Esteves, R., Oliveira-Miranda, M.A., Rodríguez, J.P. (2016) Introduction to the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria: course manual.

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